


The Theory of Observation

by boingoroni



Category: Dr. STONE (Anime), Dr. STONE (Manga)
Genre: Character Study, M/M, Manga Spoilers, One-Sided Attraction, Set during the year when they're building Perseus
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-20
Updated: 2019-08-20
Packaged: 2020-09-19 08:22:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,677
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20328043
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/boingoroni/pseuds/boingoroni
Summary: its a hard knock life being a mentalist. gen has a lot of thoughts abt senku.





	The Theory of Observation

**Author's Note:**

> kinda like a character study which equates to how much gen thinks abt senku. i love this ship but i lowkey love it even more if gen is the one pining o,o. sad boy emo gen who jsut unconditionally adores senku mmmm

Gen is an observer, first and foremost.

He's the one on the other side of the looking glass looking in. When he's on stage performing magic for thousands, _they_ were the ones trapped in a glass box for his viewing pleasure. Privy to their reactions, their line of sight, their tendencies in order to manipulate their perceptions. It's his job to know people, to know their nature.

Gen makes daily rounds throughout the village, updating his internal rolodex of personalities, keeping peace among the growing numbers especially with the annexation of Tsukasa's Empire. It was tough work to manage which ones worked well together, which ones needed a therapy session or two, or which ones could use a stern word about prejudices between the depetrified and the natives. But it was nothing a mentalist couldn't handle.

He was never told to do this of course, it was just easier for things to be this way. To gently nudge people in a favorable direction, subtly manipulate them to becoming productive citizens. And if the cogs in the machine churned happily, production ran smoothly, making any new inventions come easily, which was one step closer to the comfortable pseudo-modern life Senku promised.

And when you're an observer, when you step back to listen to an entire village with over a hundred people, you learn things you otherwise may not have.

Something that came across more than Gen expected was how much the village adored Senku. At first Gen suspected Senku's calculating, purely pragmatic demeanor would spurn away any affection. But somehow it only added to his charm. Everyone believed in his vision, hung onto every word- or at least the small percentage they understood while tuning out the science jargon when he was obviously flexing. It was an implicit trust that Senku would lead them forward.

There were little indicators like the exasperated yet fond sighs from the village elders when Senku enlisted their help with tedious projects. The little kids that'd pester him with questions about his life that he'd swat away with snap answers that'd eventually turn into drawn out scientific explanations. Even those from Tsukasa's group were charmed. At first it was amusement that such a scrawny frail kid could evoke such fear and restlessness from Tsukasa. Then it was awe at the sheer amount of knowledge and capability in resurrecting the technology they resigned to have lost.

The people loved him, he was magnetic without being anything but a one-track minded scientist. And among those who loved him, were the ones who had fallen under whatever spell his furrowed brow and chemistry monologues conjured... Those who were attracted to him.

Girls and guys alike around the village gossiped about him. Senku's name sandwiched between the likes of village heartthrobs, Ryusui and Kinrou and Tsukasa (F for respects). They were mesmerized by his hair, piercing eyes, his surprisingly low voice. Cute body, rough hands. That sharp tongue with a habit for nonsense hyperbole, things of that nature. He was, in a word, popular.

There was even an entire week when Gen caught wind of the sparkling sister trio confessing and ogling over him. A week prior, they'd made it a contest to see who could score a date with Senku. And during the following week they onslaught him with gifts they thought he'd like tagged with cute notes on ornate letters that Yuzuriha (re)invented. And each one, he'd confront as tactlessly as the last with a definitive "Nope, not interested" and a quip trashing the merits of romance.

One confession in particular that Gen overheard was actually from one of the depetrified. She was also a highly skilled craftsmen and was reanimated to aid Yuzuriha. (Although she specialized more in shoemaking, not that Gen would have anything to do with shoes.) She'd never spoken to Senku before, but apparently she had made friends with Taiju and Yuzuriha and became a "fan" through stories of him. She made him a Doraemon figure out of clay and a batch of one of the few desserts Senku actually liked that occasionally were offered at the village cafeteria (a crude biscuit cookie with a dot of grape jam) and told him she liked him.

Senku had a slight sheen of sweat from the day's build. He brushed the worn tiredness out of his face, hand combed through his hair. And maybe it was because it was near the end of the day, the sun low in the sky painting the landscape with purples and oranges. Maybe it was the personalized gifts made with care. Maybe because she was close to Taiju, his best friend. 

"I'm sorry, I can't accept these. I don't have a millisecond of time for romance, not when I need to bring back the whole of civilization."

He was fiercely determined. Expression earnest and immovable. He hadn't looked more handsome than in that moment bathed in the evening sun. She nodded, but still pushed the gifts into his free hand and hurried away. He waited a few moments after she'd cleared the area.

"I know you're there, you con magician," Senku called out. Gen had excused himself behind a bundle of roped wheat when the girl had first appeared. "D'you want some of these cookies? They'd go bad otherwise."

Gen stepped out, hands concealed. "That's heartless of you, dear Senku."

He only looked away and gestured the box in Gen's direction beckoning him to take a few.

Of course there were those that were close enough to him that were past idolizing and saw him as the crass science nerd he was. Kohaku, in particular, was close. A millimeters length as Senku would put it. She bantered with Senku openly, like an old married couple. Teased each other about Senku's heartlessness, or Kohaku's delicacy of a lioness.

Gen could be jealous of Kohaku, but she'd spilled about their relationship during a ladies night once. They were reminiscing about their first times meeting Senku, and she'd said she accidentally confessed thinking it'd be a pure sparkly moment, like in the 30-odd tale about love at first sight that Ruri once shared. But Senku immediately rejected her calling romance bothersome, or illogical, something to that effect. Kohaku was a smart girl, quick-thinking and perceptive, so she knew when to cut her losses. 

When it was Gen's turn to share, he'd said that Senku had trashed one of the few books he'd written, and she laughed remembering that moment as well, her spear pointed at Gen's neck. Senku really was indelicate when it came to anything but science.

Gen wondered if Senku would ever stop. Reach a peak when it came to science and decide that he's achieved all that he wanted. Gen fiddles with the rope-like material Kaseki had handed to him to twist. He shifts in his seat. Or if his goals were bottomless, and if he'd never settle down. Would he...?

He feels a hand on his shoulder interrupting his menial task and almost immediately can tell who it is.

It was just his luck that Senku'd come up to Gen at this moment, bend down and breathe words into his ear right when he'd been fantasizing about him.

"Hey, mentalist." Gen remembers he told Senku to call him that when they first met, although it had just been contrarian banter at the time. He shivers. "Magma and Yo have started taking their rivalry outside the fields, and it's messing with the villagers."

Gen had noticed the two progressed to competing in increasingly more obstructive areas: mining carts, the fishing hole, the main hunting grounds, and more recently, the dining hall and public village spaces. He'd let it go because healthy competition was good for their fledgling economy, but mostly entirely because it was funny. Senku still hadn't reinvented Netflix.

"Hmm.. should I tell them to elope already, get a room?"

Senku scoffs, quirks up the side of lips, a small catch of teeth.

"Do whatever you want, just get those idiots in line. It's slowing down boat production."

"Are you sure? I'd say that their antics bring up village morale. In your terms, dear Senku, productivity is up 10 billion percent."

He sighs and combs a hand through his hair.

"They destroyed one of the hydraulic engine systems, and in the process there's water damage to a crapton of the boat's structuring."

Gen peers at Senku. This isn't like him. Normally if something breaks, it means it's not good enough. It means it can be made better. Reinforced or a formula reworked. He's stressed almost like he's running out of time. Is it Tsukasa? Does that man matter that much to Senku? Or maybe it's much grander than that. Maybe it's the future he's rushing towards. Anxious to take back the thousands of years of innovation lost to the petrification ray.

What is he looking towards?

_Who_ does he see in front of him?

Gen makes no move to assuage any of the fears that run across the other man's face. He'd been sappy once before, but that was it, they weren't like that. Not him and Senku. They moved parallel to each other, in full view to one other but never crossing the line. But when dear Senku comes to him with that look on his face, how could he possibly say no?

"They _were_ getting annoying," Gen adds with a flourish and a roll of his eyes. "One time, I'd been trying to talk up cute dear Minami, but even they interrupted my famed silver-tongue. I'll have to see what I can do."

Senku smirks and says something about not caring one millimeter about what Gen gets up to on his free time. Gen feels the hand lift off his shoulder and does what he does best: observes. He watches Senku's back as he returns to his lab in the village. Scratching his wild hair and straightening out his shoulders as he reenters the threshold of the calculable, straightforward science.

He feels the imprint of that hand through the fabric of his robes.

**Author's Note:**

> shoutout to all my genku-ers, keep on doin gods work


End file.
